Maya is sick:(

This might get long...Our cat Maya got sick about 3 weeks ago. I was so stupid and waited two weeks before getting her to the vet because I thought she was being moody. We got her a little kitty friend ( Mimi) a few months ago, and that wasn't going very well, she dragged poop all over the place, would hide, wouldn't eat, would start fights with the kitten...so after that wasn't getting any better we have finally decided to give Mimi to a friend of mine who lost her cat last year, and was looking to get another. It all worked out fine, we got to see Mimi, and Maya was in a much better mood right after the kitten left. The pooping stopped she started eating again, slept with us again...

But then 3 weeks ago, she stopped eating(would still eat, but very little), and just sat around all day. Didn't want to play, she would sit in the position like she was about to vomit. And that was all day and night....But I thought she was being moody, we got a new living room table, and some other furniture, and since she is a very moody cat I just assumed she didn't like something. After two weeks I just had to take her to the vet. They took some blood, and we got antibiotics. For some reason they couldn't do the tests because her blood hemolyzed or something like that, (so the vet wanted to do it again), but by last wed she was back to her old self.
By thursday night she got sick again. We were back at the vet on saturday, did the blood test again, got new antibiotics, and I just got a call from the tech saying that they are also putting her on prednisone. My vet is out of town on an emergency, won't be back until thursday, so the the tech couldn't tell me anything more.

What is prednisone given for? I was also told if she doesn't improve, and keeps vomiting they want to see her again on friday. She looks like she swallowed an orange, her stomach is so round, maybe she just gained some weight? I just hope someone knows what this drug is given for, I want to prepare myself. I feel horribly guilty for some reason, I keep thinking that maybe if we never got the other cat this would not have happened, and maybe I would have noticed sooner that she wasn't behaving like her self...

Yes, so if anyone knows what that prednisone is given for please let me know, my nerves are killing me.
Thanks

If I were you I'd call another vet for advice, don't leave it another 2 days - cats can fade very fast and you still don't know what you're dealing with.

If she hasn't been eating and is vomiting the round tummy isn't because she's put on weight. It may be worms, has she been wormed lately? Was the new cat wormed? Maya may have picked them up from Mimi, this would also explain the diarrhea.

Prednisone, a corticosteroid, is similar to a natural hormone produced by your adrenal glands. It often is used to replace this chemical when your body does not make enough of it. It relieves inflammation (swelling, heat, redness, and pain) and is used to treat certain forms of arthritis; skin, blood, kidney, eye, thyroid, and intestinal disorders (e.g., colitis); severe allergies; and asthma. Prednisone also is used with other drugs to prevent rejection of transplanted organs and to treat certain types of cancer.

This medication is sometimes prescribed for other uses; ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information.




Again - I'd suggest you ask another vet for advice!

She was dewormed and so was Mimi. So it's not worms....

That distended abdomen is scary...please take her in to another vet right away!

Here's more information about prednisone and what it's used for: http://www.marvistavet.com/html/prednisone.html

Thank you for the link

Please take her to the nearest emergency/critical care hospital immediately. Do not wait for her to get worse - by then it might be to late.

Just an update: I did take her to another vet the very same day on tuesday and they as well took some blood and said will call me wednesday with the results or thursday morning. I got the prednisone from my regular vet, she has been treating all our pets for many years, but could not talk to her about the results because she had to go out of town.
Eventhough I took her to the other vet, who didn't give me anything until they get the results, and also told me not to give the prednisone or antibiotics, I gave her the new meds anyways because I think that if my regular vet put her on those there was probably a good reason. She got a bit better by wednesday.
As for the results, I am told that values that would indicate liver problems are marginal, but that could be because of her not eating for two weeks. There were some other values that were off, I forget the names, and was told that it seems like she is allergic to something.

The prednisone is helping she gets 1/2 a tab twice a day, we got her new food incase it's something in the food that her tummy doesn't tolerate. We got her the nutro puches, and some other canned food (merrics?) checked the ingredients, looked for foods with no dyes or anything artificial in them. We also got her nutro dry food for sensitive stomach. New treats, new everything. But she still won't eat, and wants to burry her food bowls. The nutro puches she hates, refuses to even go near it, the merrics is going a bit better she eats a tiny bit of that. The dry food is mixed in with her old food.
The new treats, with no artifical colours or flavours or preservatives she hates as well.
The only thing i could get her to eat was a canned tuna, not for cats but for people and some duck that I made on saturday.
I hope it gets better
Anyone have experiences with allergies?